Skerries races 2011

[Guest]

Back again!, Went to the Skerries races outside Dublin at the weekend the video clips are on photobucket, if anyone wants to view them go to www.photobucket.com look for johnny237's album.Cheers.Johnny

[Buffalo Bill]

Irish race series…

Hey Johnny,
What is, what are all the races in the series that includes the NW 200 and IOM-TT?
Bill

[Johnny Drummond]

Are you sitting comfortably?-good

Bill,(and anyone else who's interested).
The racing season on the roads comprises of "national" and "international" events. The "national" events are made up of small races funded by independant clubs who are under the control of the governing body of the sport here in Ireland otherwise known as the MCUI(Motorcycle Union of Ireland) Northern and Southern centres which obviously(!) control races either north or south of the border-don't ask why there have to be 2 governing bodies, just think grade school playground and that should explain everything you need to know!!!,for 90% of the competitors it will cost them money to race-around £80 entry fee a meeting and because the races are run by small clubs the prize money if you finish in 9th place is £0 and finishing in 8th will get you £50-that is to race a GSXR1000,R1,CBR900RR etc. there are 13 national races this season. These are the races everyone begins at because you don't need a huge budget or ultra fast/competitive bikes, they are now also the ONLY races to feature 125 and 250cc 2 strokes and "classic" ie. Norton,Triumph,K series Hondas,T20 Super Six Suzukis etc.,this is the real grass roots of our sport and the place where all the greats-Joey&Robert Dunlop,Bill Ivy,John Surtees,Mike Hailwood,Jimmy Guthrie, Rex&Cromie McCandless(who created the Norton Feather bed frame in Belfast), Stanley Woods andTom Herron began their rise to fame.

The "International" races are big budget (via corporate sponsorship) the enrty fee is considerably higher, I don't have an exact figure but I don't think that £150 is too far away,these races attract the large budget teams with professional full time racers and are the dream races to compete and sometimes even just finish for the vast majority of racerswho work 9-5 Monday-Friday in everyday jobs. They are televised and released on dvd, the North West 200 and the Isle of Man are obviously 2 of these, the others are the Ulster Grand Prix that was a round of the world championship from it's inception in the '50s until 1971 so you had the likes of Giacomo Agostini, Angel Nieto,Mike Hailwood,Carlo Ublialli Greame Walker, Stanley Woods etc.vying for world championship points. The 4th "international" really is-it is held in Macau in south east asia in November and it is seen as the holiday race at the end of a long hard season.But you can ask Charlie G when he gets home from watching both a "national"(the Dundrod 150) and an "international" (the Ulster Grand Prix) in August .

Oh and the numbers after the race name NW 200, Dundrod 150,Cookstown 100etc. relate to the milage required by the competitor to be completed in the feature race in the '20s and '30s when the races were started- imagine doing 200 miles over cobbled or dirt roads on a bike with bicycle type brakes when the circuits were 7-8 miles a lap. Modern racers are hard cases-b*&&^%ks, hope this answeres your question,if you want to ask more feel free, if I can answer you I will. Johnny